As my sister-in-law said in her comment last week, this is one of her favorite words to use. Honestly, it’s one of mine as well. While I love envie, frissons expresses perfectly when I get a chill. I’m not talking about the “oh, it’s cold” kind of chill. I mean when you feel a chill creep over your skin for no reason other than fear, or excitement, or even superstition.

Frisson, or frissons, means exactly that: chill, goosebump. It’s pronounced free-zawn, free-zawns, with the ending sounding like the “aw” in awning. It’s a soft “n”. You would use this in a sentence like, “Mais, I got the frissons! That movie was scary!” or “This place gives me the frissons.”

It’s a great word and I use it without even thinking about it. I don’t even know when I first heard it, so I suppose it’s been part of my vocabulary for years. It’s kind of like cher and mais for me. I just know it and if you sound it out, it sounds like the perfect word to use when you catch a sudden chill. Frisson. It almost sounds like freezing. If I were motivated, I could probably figure out the exact origin of the word, but it’s early and I just can’t do it, lol.

So the next time you’re watching another M. Night Shyamalan movie or reading a Stephen King novel and you develop goosebumps, call it the frissons.

Think I’m jealous! *pouts* Your cajun word is repeatable in public! All the ones I learned working offshore in Louisiana result in dropped jaws and raised eyebrows or get you swatted with the broom! lol

Frisson is one of those perfect words, descriptive as no other can be. Keep us updated with release news, woman, okay? Proud of you and happy for you!